The Minnesota Vikings have wrapped up their pre-season games and I am hopeful. This could be our year, right? Right!
I. Love. Football.
Please note: Even if you’d rather have a root canal than watch grown men shove each other down onto green turf, please stick with me here.
Think about how they play the game.
In every single moment of the game, they are moving and blocking and passing and running…intentionally. During every play, each player commits to follow the coach’s plan.
Consider the alternatives:
As the punter kicks the brown pigskin into the air, one of the players decides he needs a little rest and wanders off the field to find a bench and some Gatorade. Maybe stand in front of the fan for a while.
OR…
Two of the big guys want a little more action, so they hop off the bench and into the line-up where they should not be. (Vikings fans: Anyone remember the 12-men-on-the-field penalty on January 24, 2010? Have mercy.)
OR…
The center realizes he’s tired of hiking the ball to the quarterback and decides to create some on-field shenanigans with one of the other guys in purple. He starts a game of catch with an offensive guard on the 30-yard line.
That would be ridiculous, right? Of course.
The alternatives remind me of how I sometimes play my own game. How I live my life.
This morning I read one of David’s commitments on living his life. He wrote it down in Psalm 15:8.
I have set the Lord always before me.
Set. That’s an active verb. He decided/chose to do something. In football, the quarterback gets all the players lined up and then shouts Set! It means they need to be ready to play.
And then the QB yells Hut! Now it’s time to play. They move.
Set = in position.
Hut = let’s go!
The “going” happens once the players are lined up, in position, knowing the game plan.
Get in position. Then go. Set. Then hut!
In my faith life, it’s the same thing. I very intentionally set the Lord before me. Focused on Him and what He’s got for me in that moment. Then I move.
David decided that he wasn’t going to wander or show up when he wanted to or live according to God’s plans and promises when he felt like it. No. He decided to thoroughly and completely be with God. Which meant he wanted to live as God lovingly directed. He set the Lord always before him.
Football players are going to play their best game when they set the coach’s plan before them. And then follow it. When they choose to focus their attention on being in the game, fully present, listening and watching for the play calls.
That’s how I want to live my life. Setting. Then hutting. (I hope that’s a word.)
Setting the Lord always before me is going to lead me into an amazing game of kept-promises, joy-filled days, and endless hope. This activity of “setting” is going to make sure His purposes are fulfilled and I’ll play my best game.
It’s a new season for my much-loved Vikings. (Ooftah. Our first game is with the Green Bay Packers. Have mercy.)
It’s also a new season for me to begin setting.
I will set the Lord always before me.
Come on, Friend…
Set. Hut!
